The Lincolnway Special Recreation Association will hold a 40th anniversary fundraiser Sept. 25 in Frankfort.
The event, 3 p.m.- 7 p.m., includes food, a cash bar, split-the-pot and raffle baskets at CD & ME, 2320 LaGrange Road.
“Meet the Beetles” tribute band and Elvis impersonator Michael St. Angel will provide live music.
Lincolnway Special Recreation Association executive director Keith Wallace said the goal of the anniversary fundraiser, like all other fundraisers by the organization, is not only about raising money for the organization’s many needs.
“Basically, it’s (about) awareness — getting people to come out, getting the community to know what LWSRA is,” Wallace said. “We’re always trying to promote our brand and to let people know that we’re here.”
Karyn Reczek, the association’s director of marketing outreach and fundraising for the last four years, said she is an example of someone who was unaware 10 years ago of what the association had to offer her son Matt, now 18, a young man with autism.
“I was one of the parents who had to be pulled into the program by another parent,” Reczek said.
She said because of the association’s “flexibility” and programs, such as after school care and seven-week summer programs, participants can continue to participate in programs through adulthood.
Reczek said the association’s ability to serve all the eligible residents of six park districts in the Lincoln-Way area — New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Manhattan, Peotone and Washington Island — is “unlimited.”
Plans are in place for future additions to the New Lenox facility in anticipation of future growth and funds are being raised for an adaptive park for community and association participants on the grounds of the facility.
Despite that, the number of people from preschool through adulthood with a variety of disabilities currently being served by the association versus the number of potential participants, indicates that only about one in 10 persons attends any of the programs, Wallace said.
Tom Krauss, a 30-year-old New Lenox resident and association support services supervisor, said he thinks there may simply be a concern on the part of parents about bringing their children with special needs to an unfamiliar facility where they will be overseen by strangers.
“A lot of our issues with getting some of the younger ones involved has been that trust factor,” Krauss said. “We always try to let the parents know that our staff are trained, are ready to handle this.”
Krauss, whose parents Ralph Krauss and Linda Derryberry brought Krauss and his sister Beth Conway as very young children to Lincolnway Special Recreation Association activities they directed, said the whole agency “has really turned into kind of a big, close-knit family, especially as we’ve grown.”
“It’s been a struggle to maintain, but it’s something that’s important to us.” Krauss said. “We want to have that close-knit feel and make sure that everyone feels welcome.”
Wallace said as the association continues to get the word out about what they have to offer, plans will move forward on an adaptive playground for the community on the grounds of the New Lenox facility.
Renderings of additions to the existing building, include a great room, additional office and storage space and a second gym and a bus barn.
Wallace said one of the most important programs the association has implemented in recent years and a key to its growth has been the “P.E. Takeover” classes in participating school districts.
During a regular gym class, school students use sport chairs and other equipment to experience a sport the way someone with a disability might experience it, making the disability personal.
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Wallace said he can now have a conversation about special recreation with the school children in the area, many who may have a need for the facility or know someone else who will in the not-to-distant future.
“I’m working on the next generation,” Wallace said. “The next generation in this area, they will know about SRAs, and they will know about special rec and they will know about people with disabilities…That’s how we change the world.”
Tickets are $50 per person and $20 for children 12 years old and younger.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.lwsra.org/40th or at the Lincolnway Special Recreation Association office, 1900 Heather Glen Drive, New Lenox.
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.